"We are announcing even better tools for you to actively shape and improve the experience. We have redesigned and expanded Facebook's 'News Feed Preferences' to give you more control," the statement said.

To help prioritise stories and make sure you don't miss posts from particular friends and pages, you can now select which friends and pages you would like to see at the top of your news feed.

To begin with, in 'News Feed Preferences', tap on a friend's profile picture to see their posts first. You will then see any new stories they have shared since your last visit to Facebook at the top of news feed, with a star in the top right of their post so you know why they're at the top.

You can scroll down to see the rest of your News Feed normally. Based on the types of pages you have liked in the past, you can discover new pages in order to get more of the stories you care about.

To get to 'News Feed Preferences', tap More in the bottom right hand corner of your mobile app.

'News Feed Preferences' will be seen under Settings. You can come back at any time to update your choices.

The new ways to control your news feed will be available on iOS devices and will be rolling out on Android and desktop systems over the coming weeks.